The Miami Hurricanes took on the Cal Golden Bears on Saturday evening, eventually coming out on top 4-3 with a walk-off walk.
Lyndon Glidewell earned the win on the mound for Miami after coming into a bases loaded jam and striking his way out of it in the eighth, before pitching a scoreless ninth.
Offensively, Alex Sosa led the way for the Hurricanes, with 2 hits and 3 RBIs, courtesy of a three run homer in the first inning.
The Golden Bears started the game off strong, jumping on Miami starter Lazaro Collera with some explosive hitting as Jett Kenady continued to torment the Hurricanes with an RBI double in the first.
Miami responded with some strong offense of its own.
Leadoff hitter Jake Ogden sliced a double down the left field line to get things started for Miami, and then hustled over to third base on an infield single. Then, with men on the corners, catcher Sosa mashed a ball deep to right, leaving the yard for a three-run shot.
However Cal starter Gavin Eddy completely regained his poise, shutting the Hurricane offense down for the remainder of his outing — a 120-pitch, eight inning performance.
After the shaky first inning, Miami’s defense got on track, retiring 8 batters in a row, including an eight-pitch third inning for Collera.
Both offenses couldn’t seem to get the ball away from either defense for a stint, until Cal found its way back onto the base paths in the fifth inning thanks to a pair of walks by Collera.
Hideki Prather made his way up for the Golden Bears and smashed a pitch to deep center, scoring two and tying the game with a double — his second of the evening.
The top of the sixth saw Cal try to keep their momentum, and they almost did with a huge swing to center by Daniel Murillo.
However, Miami center fielder Michael Torres put on the jets, sprinting to the wall before scaling it for an electric home run robbery, keeping the score knotted up at 3-3.
Torres made another highlight reel grab the following inning, sprinting in to make an incredible diving grab to save another run.
Miami opted to enter the closer, Ryan Bilka at the end of the seventh, sensing Cal knocking on the door of the lead. Bilka got out of the inning, giving the Canes a chance to get the lead back.
However, they couldn’t do much with the opportunity as they had three straight Ks to end the seventh.
That made it the second night in a row the Hurricanes failed to record a baserunner from the fifth to seventh inning,
With the pressure building, Cal loaded the bases in the eight with a single and two walks. So off went Bilka and in came Glidewell with the bases loaded and two outs. After falling behind 2-0, Glidewell pumped in three straight strikes to get the Hurricanes out of the bases loaded jam.
With an eruption from the crowd, the Canes got momentum back on their side
Glidewell handled things in the ninth, keeping the Hurricanes energized with another big strikeout to end the inning,
With Eddy out of the game, Dylan Dubovik started the inning with a six-pitch walk to get a man on base for the Canes, but he was followed by a failed bunt attempt by Vance Sheahan which popped out. Next, a line drive single to center from Gabriel Milano put a runner in scoring position.
The Golden Bears opted to walk the bases loaded, which brought up Max Galvin with the game on the line.
The crowd roared as three straight pitches were thrown for balls. With the crowd on their feet, the final pitch landed just outside, and Miami walked it off with a walk.
Miami (31-12, 11-9 ACC) will face Cal (22-19, 7-13 ACC) in a rubber match tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Mark Light Field.